Electric wire terminal



June 8, 1948. s, GQQKIN 2,442,767

ELECTRIC WIRE TERMINAL Filed June 7, 1946 Inventor Sylvester L. Gqokin v rrzey Patented June 8, 1948 2,442,761 ELECTRIC wmr: TERMINAL Sylvester L. Gookin, Quincy, Masa, as iznor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation. Flemington, N. 1., a corporation'oi' New Jersey Application June 7, 1946, Serial No. 674,954

4 Claims.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide improvements in electric wire terminals of the type comprising an eyeof wire and a ductile metal eyelet installed therein. When an electric conductor is made of many strands of fine copper wire, as herein illustrated, and the terminal pOrtion or portions thereof are bent to form eyes adapted to encircle binding posts, the eyes should be reinforced with clenched eyelets not only to strengthen their anchorage to binding posts but also to prevent one or more of the individual strands of wire in the eyes from projecting out of bounds.

In stringing such conductors in automobiles, signaling apparatus, or other situations, workmen sometimes foul them unintentionally after they have been attached to binding posts, thereby pulling the eye portions partially, if not entirely, out of the clenched eyelets. In view of that condition, the present invention provides a, terminal eyelet having novel features that enable it to grip a wire with greater holding power than that of any eyelet hitherto installed in the same manner, that is, without solder.

Referring to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a completed terminal made with an eyelet embodying the invention, the prong side of the terminal being uppermost;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an unclenched eyelet embodying the invention;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a terminal between cooperative eyelet-setting tools in the final stage of forming the terminal;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a terminal to a binding post; and

Fig. 5 is a flat development in section of a segment of a terminal lying in an arcindicated by line V-V in Fig. 4.

The invention is embodied primarily in an eyelet of the type illustrated in Fig. 2, and finally in the terminal pictured in the other views. The eyelet, ductile and made of moderately hard brass, comprises a barrel Ill, slightly tapered, and a crowned flange II. In the process of making the eyelet equally spaced indentations l2 are impressed into its crowned side, and these indentations produce a circular series of narrow ribs 13 and intervening troughs M on the other side of the flange; each rib extending radially from the barrel to the outer margin of the flange, and providing a ridge on which some ofthe strands of a wire will be seated and thereby spaced from the bottoms of the adjacent troughs.

The barrel in is provided with equally spaced anchored scorelines I 5 to determine the number and width of the prongs into which its clenchingv end will be divided when it is being burst and clenched by the, tools used to install the eyelet in an eye of wire. Eight scorelines are provided in the illustrated eyelet, although only four of them are apparent in Fig. 2. The number of scorelines and the number of ribs I3 are preferably equal, and, as shown, each scoreline is in register with one of the ribs. This registering relation is preferred because it enables the tip of each prong IE to enter a trough it between two adjacent ribs l3 and to clear both of the latter instead of encountering a rib and being arrested or deflected thereby.

Terminals of the type herein illustrated may be made by a machine of the type set forth in my copending application Serlal No. 552,591, filed September 4, 1944, issued as Patent Number 2,439,465 on April 13, 1948, for United States Letters Patent. Fig. 3 of the present application includes portions of an anvil I! and a vertically movable eyelet-setting tool l8 similar to those illustrated in my aforesaid copending application. The anvil has an upsetting shoulder IQ of incurved section and an upstanding pilot 20 for guiding an eyelet thereto. As the scored end of an eyelet barrel traverses the shoulder waiter-passing through an 'eye 2| of stranded wire it is divided into prongs i6 and the latter, following the crosssectional curve of the shoulder l9 become curled around the wire. To obtain the effects hereinafter described, the rim of the flange H is formed to overlap and engage the prongs (Figs. 3 and 4) when the tips of the latter are nested in the troughs H. The surfaces of the troughs have about the same cross-sectional curvature as the upsetting shoulder 19 and are adapted to preserve.

the curled formation initiated in the prongs by theshoulder.

The metal of the eyelets should be harder than that of hard-drawn copper wire commonly used for stranded conductors.

of moderately hard brass. In the process of making the eyelets the ribs l3 undergo what is sometimes termed strain'hardening, that is, supplemental hardening in consequence of being pressed into shape. Consequently, when an eyelet is installed in an eye of copper wire with enough pressure to drive the tips of the prongs into the troughs l4, as illustrated,'the ribs l3 will indent some of the strands of the wire, but will not, themselves, be indented by the strands. Fig. 5 shows three of the ribs partially embedded This condition will be provided if the eyelets are made of the usual grade in indentations they havemade in one of the obtain an exceptionally powerful grip on the eye of wire.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

'1. A wire terminal comprising an eye formed of wire, and a clenched eyelet installed therein, the

eyelet having a crowned flange and a plurality of clenched prongs engaging and confining the eye or wire, the flange being provided with a circular series of wire-engaging ribs dividing its wireengaging side into a circular series oi. troughs.

2. A wire terminal comprising an eye Iormed oi relatively soft electric wire, and a clenched eyelet The flexibility or the prongs it p of harder metal installed therein, the eyelet having a crowned flange and a plurality oi clenched prongs engaging and confining the eye of 'wire,

the flange being provided with a series of indentations in its crowned side forming 'ribs on its wire-engaging side and these ribs extending across the wire of the eye and being partially embedded therein.

3 A wire terminal comprising an eye Iormed 01' wire, and a clenched eyelet installed therein,

the eyelet having a crowned flange and s plurality oi clenched prongs engaging and confining the eye or wire, the flange being provided with a series-of wire-engaging. ribs dividing its wire-' engaging side into a series of troughs, and the .tips or the prongs being located one in each or said troughs and out of contact with said ribs.

4. An eyelet for making a wire terminal, the eyelet being made of ductile metal harder than hard-drawn copper wire and having a crowned flange and a barrel provided with a plurality of scorelines tor determining the number and width oi prongs into which it will be divided when clenched, the flange having a circular series of indentations in its crowned side forming ribs on its trough side and dividing thelatter into s series of troughs, the-number oi such ribs being the same as the number Of said 'scorelines and each rib lying in radial register with one of the scorelines.

BYLVEBTER L. 600m.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flie of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,456,928 Lake May 29, 1923 1,630,936 Godley May 31, 1927 Hyde Nov. 22, 1932 

